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DELEGATE'S STORY. 



INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTION ABOUT STORES. 

All good and suitable stores are welcomed, and all necessary 
freight and charges paid on them bj the Commission, and are 
distributed by delegates of the Christian Commission personally. 

WHAT TO SEND. 

Money, by all means, if possible. To invest money in arti- 
cles to send is unwise. 

The Commission can purchase exactly what is wanted, at the 
very moment when needed most, and as a Commission at whole- 
sale cheaper than others. 

CLOTHING, ETC. 

Cotton shirts, Pillow-cases, 

Cotton drawers. Bed ticks (single for filling 

Canton flannel shirts and draw- with straw), 

ers, Pillows, 

Surgical shirts and drawers Pads, for fractured limbs, 

(with tape strings to tie in- Ring pads, for wounds, 

stead of seams at the sides). Fans, 

Large cotton drawers (to wear Netting, to protect from files. 

indoors as pants), Housewifes.stored with needles, 
Dressing gowns, thread, buttons, pins, &c. 

Slippers (if of cloth or carpet, HandkerchieJs, 

with stiff soles), Wash -rags, 

Sheets, Old linen, 

FOOD, ETC. 

Oat meal, Soda biscuit, Onions, in barrels, I 

Farina, Butter crackers. Apples, in barrels, j 

Corn srarch, Boston crackers, Cranberries, 1 

Dried rusk, Pickles, Good butter, in smalll jars, 

Jellies, Jams, Dried fruits. 

In special cases, eggs, bread, cakes, &c., are needed, bu(t not 
generally. They should never be sent unless specially called for. 

FOR BEVERAGES. \ 

Good black tea. Chocolate, Lemons, Syrup£|. 

All preparations of the Blackberry are of double value. 

ST^IMULANTS 

Good brandy, Madeira wine, Port wine, Cordials. 

Domestic wines are excellent in winter, apt to spoil in sum mer. 

Good Reading Matter.— Send no trash. Soldiers deiserve 

the best. A library is a valuable hygienic appliance. Foi- the 

able-bodied, good publications are mental and spiritual food. 



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V. S. CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 



A DELEGATE'S STORY, 

By Rev. H. Q. Butterfield. 



The following paper was originally addressed to C. 
Demond, Esq., of Boston. The writer is pastor of the 
Congregational Church of Great Falls, New Hampshire: 

Remarkable for terse statement, touching interest, and 
spiritual power, it is even more so as an example of dele- 
gate work in the army. 

If one man, in one term of delegate service, could do so 
much to win souls to Christ, bind together the tent and 
the hearth, relieve bodily suffering, and meet the yearning 
for S3'mpathy of our sons and brothers away in the war, 
what must the fruits be of the service of the fourteen 
hundred and more sent by the United States Christian 
Commission? 

Mr. Hawes and myself left Boston, September 15th, for 
the Army of the Cumberland. We spent the following 
Sabbath in Louisville, where I preached twice, — once to 
the well, and once to the invalids. That was the day of 
the bloody Chickamauga battle. We hastened to the 
front, reaching Chattanooga Friday. For the first four 
days my labors are in the town. 

1 begin to move around among the sick. The first man 
I accost tells me he is a Christian. The second man, be- 
longing to the 18th Regulars, lies dying. I cannot learn 

1 



Dame or history. I try to talk with him, and point him to 
the Saviour. The only answer is a groan. He is beyond 
my instruction. The next four patients all tell me they 
have a hope in Christ. It is good to look at their peaceful 
faces. 

The next one I accost wants to know if I will write a let- 
ter for him to his Colonel. My promise to do so seems to do 
him a world of good. " 0, sir," exclaims he, " yours is the 
tirst sympathy we have had since we have been lying here V 
I encourage him, shake hands, and promise to see him 
again. When he afterward learns that I have written his 
letter, and done his errand, his gratitude is touching. He 
belongs to the " Louisville Legion" (5th Kentucky). 

The tears gush from E. R. Richardson's eyes as I ask if he 
is trying to live a Christian life. " I was taught to do so, 
sir." God bless the prayers of faithful parents. 

So ends my first half day among the sick. It is a blessed 
work. 

On my next trip, I find a sick soldier, looking sad and 
discouraged. I try to raise his spirits ; telling him we ap- 
preciate his services; that he is not forgotten at home; that 
thousands are praying for him. It is too much for him. 
He turns aside his head, and bursts into tears. So precious 
is a little sympathy; so hungry are these poor sick men for it. 

" Do you enjoy religion?" I ask another soldier. " Yes, 
sir." '< Where did you obtain it ?" " Right in that corner, 
sir!" And he points to a spot where he has been pre- 
viously lying. I find that Brother T. D. Ewing, of the 
Commission, has been showing him the way. 

Here is a brisk young soldier, not piously inclined, bufc 
very cheerful. Pointing to an ugly wound upon his 
shoulder, he says, " You see I have lately got my star," 
i. e., badge of the Brigadier. I congratulate him upon his 
promotion. 



Here is an Illinois soldier, who tells me his father and 
all his brothers are disloyal. But he says he has learned 
to put God first, country next, family next, and self last. 
Noble sentiments. I tell him many prayers are offered for 
him at home. "Yes,'^ says he, "I know it. I have a 
wife u'ho is putting in her time that way.'^ Here are three 
soldiers, lying side by side, who are seekers. Their hearts 
are tender, and I find it a blessed privilege to point them 
to Christ. 

Here is a brave fellow, whose chest has almost been 
crushed in by the premature fall of a chimney, — the house 
being pulled down for fortifications. With much effort he 
whispers into my ear the contents of a letter for his wife. 
"Shall I tell her you are seeking Christ?" "Yes; and 
tell her to pray for me. And his gushing tears attest hie 
sincerity. May God bless Joseph West! 

Sunday, I preach in the field to the 9th Indiana. Oa 
Monday evening I lead a soldier's prayer-meeting in the 
Methodist church. The house is crowded. The feeling 
is deep and tender. The prayers are most urgent and im- 
portunate, and the singing is like the sound of many waters. 
The next evening I preach in the same place, to an audience 
equally large. No old, no very young ; no women ] all sturdy, 
sober, thinking men. I have never preached to so much 
hrairi gathered into one and the same audience before. 

The next day. Brothers Burnell, Hawes, and myself are 
detailed to go into the field hospital, two miles north of 
Chattanooga. 

Here are some 1500 wounded, lying in ients, in a beau- 
tiful valley, which is surrounded on three sides by high 
hills. Here the rest of my time is spent. 

The wounded are arranged according to corps and divi- 
sions. Mr. Burnell takes McCook's corps, Mr. Hawes 



takes Thomas', and T, Crittenden's. Our work is thus 
systematized. 

Our first aim is to relieve pressing physical wants; for 
Bragg has at last received our flag of truce, and our 
wounded boys, after having Iain ten days on the field, their 
wounds undressed, are coming in. Most of them have 
been stripped of money and clothing; the heartless rebels 
leaving scarcely enough to cover nakedness. 

Here is a fine young fellow just from the field. He is 
wrapped in a sheet, and it is his only covering. While 
kind hands are clothing him, and dressing his wounds, I 
ran to the tent and bring him a cordial. He drinks, and 
says, '^ How good that tastes!" See how his face shines! 
Were he lying on a bed of roses in Paradise, " waxing well 
of his deep wounds," he could not seem happier; so glad 
is he to escape from rebel hands. What a pleasure to 
minister to his wants ! 

Wheeler's cavalry makes a savage raid, and destroys 
three tons of our stores, as they are slowly coming over the 
Cumberland Mountains. This cripples us during our whole 
stay. We have not a tithe of what we really need for dis- 
tribution. But we manage to do considerable with but 
little. 

Here are two papers of farina and one of corn starch. 
How many tastes they afford to sick men! How many 
relishes they give to poor appetites ! How many blessings 
they bring the Christian Commission! 

Our cordials and stimulants are meagre in quantity. 
But how many sick men are refreshed ! How many sip, 
and say, "0, thank you, thank you!" Many a soldier is 
toned up for amputation, or recruited aftar having waked 
from his chloroform sleep. 

Next to these more pressing wants, the soldiers call for 
papers, tracts and books. Go into a tent, and almost the 



first question Is, " Chaplain, can you give us anything to 
read?" And the Christian Commission's slices and crumbs 
from the bread of life seem sweeter to them than any lux- 
uries or delicacies. 

Then I carry around, at intervals, paper, stamps and 
envelopes for those soldiers who have left all their effects 
on the battle-field. "Chaplain, what is there to pay?" 
" Nothing. The Christian Commission sends you these, 
and sends me to present them." "Bully for the Christian 
Commission, and bully for you too!" 

But here are men who cannot stir, or whose right arms 
are shattered. How can they write? How gratefully they 
accept my services as amanuensis ! Jona. Urmston (86th 
Ind.) wishes me to write to his mother. Wounded on the 
19th, in the right hand and the right hip. Fell into the 
rebels' hands on the 20th, and was held till Oct. 1. Pa- 
roled and sent here. His wounds doing well. Best of all, 
and what will rejoice his mother's heart, he wants me to 
say to her he is seeking Christ. 

A. S. Goodwin (19th Ohio) wants me to write his father. 
One ball has lodged in his left thigh j another has gone 
through his right knee-joint, and he has been struck in the 
bowels with a canister shot. Held by the rebels ten days. 
Hopes to live to see home, and gladdens his father by say- 
ing : " I put my trust in God." 

At 8 o'clock of the last night I spent in camp, one of 
the nurses comes, and says there is a soldier in one of my 
tents who cannot live till morning, and who wishes to see 
you. I followed him at once. The night is dark, and the 
rain pours, and has poured for the last three days. Ah! 
it is Barnabas S. Brackett (17th Ky.), whom I have met 
and prayed with before, and who has told me he was ready 
to go. The surgeon has told him his time is at hand, and 
he has sent for me to do the offices of the nearest friend. 



He wants me to write to his father, who is a Baptist cler- 
gyman in Calhoun, Ky., and send him his well-worn Tes- 
tament. " Brother Willis," who is the only unconverted 
one in the family, I must tell to meet him in heaven. His 
money I may take and use it to send home his body. 
While waiting for me to write these items down, he bursts 
forth ever and anon in little snatches of sacred song : 

" I know that I love Jesus."' 

These things done, I kneel upon the damp straw of his 
pallet, the rain plashing and roaring against the canvas, 
and commend his soul to God. Then he gives me his 
clammy hand, and hopes to meet me in heaven; and we 
part. At 2 o'clock he dies, shouting his triumph over 
death. 

Here is a member of the 36th Ind. Arm off. " Have 
you a hope, Mr. Dudley.?" "I am like thousands of 
others. I have been putting this matter off." " But will 
you not, Mr. Dudley, begin to seek the Lord now?" "I 
have promised him, if he will only heal me up this time, 
I will try to serve him." And the great tears roll down 
his cheeks like rain. Here is John S. Boland (86th 111.). 
His arm is off too, but his face is radiant. " Have you a 
hope, John?" '^ Yes, sir." ''When did you obtain it — 
since you joined the army?" ''In the last battle!" 
(Chickamauga.) What a place for conversion ! What a 
place to find peace — amidst the smoke and roar and car- 
nage of the battle-field ! 

Here is Sergeant Hiram Godfrey, loth Mich. I pray 
with him J his heart is tender; his eyes fill with tears, and 
his lips move in silent prayer. He is giving his soul to 
Christ. Beautiful sight! He promises me, and tears at- 
test his sincerity, that he will try to serve God. 

Here is G. W. Caldwell, of the 84Lh 111. I write to his 



wife. "May T ask her to pray for you?" "You may." 
"And will you not try to trust Jesus for 'yourself?" "I 
will! I will!" He soon passes away, and I have to write 
a second and sadder letter to his wife. 

These are specimen cases. 

One of my most pleasant labors is to hold prayer-meet- 
ings in the tents of the wounded. On Saturday and Sun- 
day, October 10th and 11th, I go through all my parish — 
Crittenden's corps — holding short services, and preaching 
a short sermon in all the tents but three. The whole 
service is from ten to fifteen minutes long. As I explain 
2 Cor. 5 : 1, and contrast the torn and dissolving tent with 
the solid " house not made with hands," showing the glo- 
rious privilege of passing from the one to the other, the 
tears fill the soldier's eyes to think how his poor tent lies 
torn and battered; and his soul is filled with longings to 
enter the house. Good attention in all the tents; and in 
some the feeling is so deep and strong as to extemporize a 
prayer-meeting, in which nearly all take part. 

As I go through the tents one day, James Coit, a Ken- 
tuckian, wearing on his body six ugly wounds, says to me : 
" Chaplain, when are you coming to hold another prayer- 
meeting?" " This evening." " Chaplain, why not now?" 
" Very well," I reply, " I am a minute man ; let it be now." 
So I take off my hat, and pull out my Testament, and we 
have a precious liieeting. 

There is another sad ofiioe I am called to perform. It 
is to follow the dead soldier to the grave. Caldwell, whom 
I tried to lead to Christ, and Harlin, a brave boy, shot on 
the mountains by the rebel sharp-shooters, firing across the 
river: these I am called to commit to the dust. Both are 
lowered into the same grave, and rest side by side. 

In going my rounds, I find a brave and stalwart fellow, 
belonging to the 7th Penn. Cavalry. His wounds make it 



8 



difficult for him to speak, and difficult for him to hear. I kneel 
by his pallet, and after much trouble learn the fact that he is 
trusting in his Saviour. As I meet him from time to time, 
we adopt a kind of spiritual free-masonry. I point upward, 
as much as to say : " Your hope and your citizenship are in 
heaven." And he will always slowly and feebly raise his 
hand in response. 

Going into his tent to hold a meeting, Sunday, Oct. 11th, 
I find that he has just passed away. 1 retire, and hold no 
service there. Two hours after, on coming from a tent, I 
see the burial party just starting. What! is there no chap- 
lain? Has no prayer been said? Must my brave soldier 
be buried thus? It must not be. And so I start at full 
speed, to overtake the party before they reach the grave. 
I reach the spot just as they are lowering him to his rest. 
The tender-hearted soldiers gratefully accept my services; 
a prayer is offered : thus is William Donald committed to 
the dust. 

"No useless coflSn inclosed his breast, 
Nor in sheet nor in shroud we wound him; 
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest;" 

the only thing between him and mother earth his well- 
worn blanket. But my vision goes beyond the blanket 
and the rude grav^e. I see the resurrection process; I hear 
that last trumpet whose sonorous energy quickens every 
particle of his sleeping dust. What a form this humble 
blanket discloses ! What a radiant shape comes from this 
grave, and goes up to be "forever with the Lord." And 
so the scene is hallowed; and the look and the vision makes 
this humble grave a vista, widening and opening into para- 
dise. 

These are some of the incidents of my work. I enjoyed 
it more than I can find words to express. 



For convalescents, lively, interesting books, the monthlies, the 
pictorials, works of art, science, and literature, as well as those 
for moral and spiritural culture, such as you would put into the 
hands of a brother recovering. 

Stationery is much needed, paper, envelopes, and pencils. 

HOW TO PACK. 

Pack in boxes. Barrels are not as good. Secure well. 
Boxes should not be so large that two cannot conveniently lift 
them into a wagon. Pack eatables by themselves. Never pack 
perishable articles, such as oranges, lemons, bread, cakes, nor 
jars of jellies and jams, with other goods. Tin cans should be 
soldered : all other modes fail. Stone jars should be corked and 
firmly bound with oiled linen or leather over the cork, and packed 
closely in saw-dust or hay, in boxes never exceeding a dozen and 
a half in a box, and nailed stron^^^ly, to bear rough handling. 
Jellies in tumblers, covered with paper, and wines, cordials, &c., 
in bottles, with paper or other poor stoppers, are liable to spill 
out, and if packed with other things, sure to injure them. 

HOW TO MARK. 

Mark with paint or ink on the boards, — cards rub off, — in 
plain letters and figures. On one corner, the number of the 
box according to the number sent by you in all, numbering your 
first box *1, your second ^2, your third *3, and so on from the 
first sent to the last. On another corner, mark each box as from 
your Society, giving the name, and conspicuously also mark as 
follows: "George H. Stuart, 

Chairman Christian Commission, 

1 1 Bank Street, Philadelphia," 
or whatever other name and place you wish to send it to. 

To secure acknowledgments, and to save trouble, also send an 
invoice or list by mail, on paper, the common letter sheet size, 
written only on one side, specifying each box or barrel by number, 
and giving the contents of each by itself Give your own name 
and post-ottice in full, with the name of your State. Place also 
another list or invoice of the same kind in the box under the lid, 
and if wit.h this last you place also an envelope addres.sed to your- 
self, witji a postage stamp upon it, you may sometimes, — not 
always, — have it returned to you through the mail, with the sig- 
nature of the delegate, and the name of the hospital camp 
where he distributed it. 

Write plain. Above all, write your own name distinctly, and 
to save embarrassment, give your address in full, especially 
whether Miss or Mrs. or Rev. 

Money should be sent to Joseph Patterson, Esq., Treasurer, 
at Western Bank, Philadelphia. 



Communications and Contributions 

For the United States Christian Commission moy be sent to 
of the following places, as may be most convenient, addressed to the 
sons designated. 

PHILADELPHIA.— Letters to Rev. AV. E. Boardman, 11 B 

Street; money to Joseph Patterson, at the Western Bank; sU 

to George H. Stuart, 11 Bank Street. 
NEW YORK. — Letters and supplies to Nathan Bishop, 30 B 

House; money io James M. Brown, 59 Wall Street. 
BOSTON — Letters to Charles Demond, 4 Court Street; mone 

Joseph Storey, 112 Tremont Street; stores to L. P. Rowli 

Tremont 'J'emple. 
PITTSBURG.— Letters to Robert C Totten : money to Joseph 

bree, 71 Wood Street; stores to W. P. Weyman, 79 Smith! 

Street. 
CINCINNATI— Letters to ReV. J. F. Marlay ; money to W 

Perkins, 17 West Third Street; supplies to A. E. Chamberl 

l^ooms Christian Commission, ol Vine Street. 
INDIANAPOLIS, IN D.— Letters to C. N. Todd ; money to Ja 

M. Ray; sufiplies to G. W. Clippinjrer. 
CHICAGO.— Letters to B. F. Jacohs, P. 0. Box 5801 ; mone 

John V. Farwell ; supplies to Rooms Young Men's Christian 

soc-iaiion, Mtthodist Ciiurch Block. 
ST. LOUIS. — Leiters to J. H. Parsons, Daily Union office ; mc 

to Edward Ticknor ; supplies to Isaac S. Smyth, Christian C 

mission office, under Lindell Hotel. 
DE TROIT. — Communications, money, and supplies to EC. Wal 
BALTIMORE. — Letters to Rev. J. McJilton: money to Rev. ( 

P. Hays; stores to G. S. Griffith, 77 West Baltimore Street. 
BUFFAIjO, N. Y. — Commuuicatious and supplies to John 

Hill, M.D. 
TROY. N. Y — Letters, money, and supplies to Charles P. Hai 
IIAURISBURG, PA. — Communications, money, and supplie; 

Rev. T. H. Robinson. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y. — Communications, money, and supplie 

Oliver I). Grosvenor. 
WASHINGTON, D. C— Communications, money, and supplie 

William Ballantyne, 49« Seventh Street, or Rev. S. L. Bcv 

500 H Street. 
LOUISVILLE, KY. — Communications, money, and supplies 

J. Edward Hardy, care of.fi G. Dod;,^e & Co., 'Mb Main Stre< 
PEORIA, ILL — Comuju:iications, money, and supplies to W .1 

Reynolds. 
FREDERICK, MD. — Communications, money, and supplie: 

Gideon Bantz. 
HAGERSTOWN, MD.— Communications, money, and suppl'e 

Rev. Mr. Evans. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




